Final Fantasy XIV: Complete Guide to the Grand Companies

So, you were invited to choose one of the game's major factions and they didn't explain anything about how they work? You've come to the right place! In this guide, we explain everything you need to know about the Grand Companies!

Grad Companies are organizations that Final Fantasy XIV prompts players to join around level 20 of the main quests in A Realm Reborn. There are three of them: The Maelstrom, located in Limsa Lominsa, The Immortal Flames, located in the city of Ul'dah, and The Order of the Twin Adder, in the Gridania area.

You must choose one of them, but you can switch to another after progressing a bit further.

Each Grand Company has a headquarters, all with the exact same layout of NPCs.

Foreign Levy Flyer

This serves as a tutorial on how the Frontline PVP mode works, which unfortunately isn’t available for the Free Trial. If you've never played it, this mode puts 72 players in an arena, divided into three groups of 24, and whoever scores the most points within the time limit wins. Each map has its own objectives, but defeating other players will generate points in all of them. Here's a brief summary of how each map works.

• The Borderland Ruins: The secondary objective is to hold occupied areas and defeat the mobs that appear in the center of the map. As the battle progresses, there’ll be a notification with a countdown indicating that a weapon system will be activated. These are the mobs in the center of the map that generate the most points! Additionally, between the areas that can be conquered, there are teleporters that take you directly to the center of the arena.
• Seal Rock: In this map, you can score points by controlling nodes around the arena. Whenever a node is activated, a player needs to interact with it for about five seconds to activate it on behalf of their team. Keep in mind that if it already belongs to another team, it will be necessary to deactivate it, which takes around 5 seconds, and only then activate it. Taking damage cancels the interaction, so make sure the area is clear.
• The Fields of Glory: Similar to Borderland Ruins, in this map, crystals periodically appear, and teams score points by damaging them. When one is destroyed, the score is distributed according to how much damage each team dealt.
• Onsal Hakair: This map functions similarly to the nodes in Seal. However, once a node is captured, it cannot be conquered by another team. When captured, the node will award points to the team for a period of time until it disappears on its own.
• Worqor Chirteh: This is the most recent map and has more things happening. To score points, you just need to dominate certain areas. However, to dominate, players need to stay within a small area.

In addition, two global events occur that alter the battlefield: Blizzard will cause snowmen to appear that generate telegraphs on the ground. Anyone hit will receive overshield for 30 seconds. The other event is an Aurora Borealis, which causes areas to be conquered to respawn faster and restores players' Limit Break faster.

OIC Officer of Arms

This is where you can customize your Free Company's icon, similar to the guilds in Final Fantasy XIV. Additionally, on some equipment, you can place your Free Company's emblem on your armor. Remember that you need authorization from your guild to edit the emblem.

Company Chest

They serve as your Free Company's warehouse. There are five pages, each capable of holding up to 50 items, as well as storing crystals and gil. Depending on the configuration and permissions, not all pages may be available, so always remember to check with other guild members what can be picked up or placed there.

Hunt Billmaster and the Hunt Board

On the hunting board, there are daily hunts and a weekly hunt to acquire Allied Seals, the currency used to purchase items available from the Hunt Billmaster.

OIC Quartermaster

Another NPC dedicated to those who manage a Free Company. Here you can spend company credits, which are obtained by a Free Company when players perform in-game activities, to buy materials, guild buffs, and consumables.

OIC Administrator

He's the one you talk to to create a Free Company. To do this, he'll give you an item that functions as a form, and you'll need the signatures of five players who aren’t Free Trials for the guild to be formed.

Flame/Serpent/Storm Personnel Officer

He’s one of the main NPCs of the Grand Companies (GC). You make your daily GC deliveries to him. He’s also responsible for increasing your rank, and ranking up should be one of your main goals because it makes various other areas of the game much easier.

If you’ve already read our Crafting Guide, you probably already know about this feature. In the "Undertake supply and provisioning missions" option, you'll see the items that are being accepted that day. Those with a star will give bonus XP and Gil. If the delivery is a High Quality item, the reward will be doubled.

Flame/Serpent/Storm Personnel Officer Quartermaster

Finally, the Quartermaster is another very important NPC in the Grand Company. He runs the faction's main shop, where various items are for sale, depending on your rank. The higher your rank, the more options are available in the shop, and at the highest rank there's an exclusive set for players!

What's worth buying?

Ranks and how to climb them

As soon as you join one of the Grand Companies, you start as a "Private Third Class". To advance, there’s a cost in Company Seals, and this remains the same for all ranks. In the initial ranks, it's a bit more difficult to farm this currency, but there are still some good ways to do it.

This is the highest rank a player can reach. To get here, you'll need to complete another "Flagged Mission", but this requires at least level 50 and completing at least 5 different "Command Missions". In short, Command Missions are like playing dungeons with your squad.

Farming Company Seals

Via daily deliveries

If you have a crafter or gatherer, remember to make the daily deliveries, especially those with a star, and always try to deliver them as High Quality.

Roulettes

The Leveling and Guildheist roulette wheels can also offer some Company Seals and give you a boost at the beginning. If you don't have those roulette wheels unlocked, take a look at our Leveling Guide

Hunting Log

If you don’t know what a Hunting Log is, we covered it in our Leveling Guide. Assuming you've already unlocked it, go to the Logs menu > Hunting Log.

Here you’ll find a list of enemies to defeat. Besides being a good way to initially obtain Company Seals, completing this list is a requirement for advancing in rank.

Expert Delivery

This is the best way to farm. However, it’s necessary to reach the rank of Sergeant Second Class. Assuming you’re at that rank, speak to the Personnel Officer, open the "Undertake supply and provisioning missions" option and go to the Expert Delivery tab.

Here you can sell equipment you no longer use in exchange for Company Seals, and it also accepts those dungeon equipment items that you usually forget to visit and end up cluttering your inventory.

Adventurer Squadrons

This is perhaps one of the most hidden and underappreciated features of the game. In your Grand Company HQ, after reaching the rank of Second Lieutenant, you’ll notice a door on the side through which you can enter and access a room.

Of the important things in the room, we have:

Enlistment Papers

This is where you evaluate new recruits for your team. Whenever you complete an objective in your Challenge Log, which can be viewed in the Logs > Challenge Logs menu, there's a chance an NPC will send you their resume.

Yes, there are differences between the types of Challenge Logs. For example, there are NPCs that only appear if you complete the weekly objectives at the Gold Saucer.

Regiment Board

This is where you improve the squad's overall stats, and you can also customize the appearance, class, and skills of each member.

Finally, in the last option, you can customize the NPC's appearance.

Squadron Sergeant

The person responsible for sending NPCs on missions. A minimum squad of 4 is required, with a maximum of 8 squads.

In this menu, you can choose which mission to undertake. Keep in mind that each mission takes 18 real-life hours to complete. Therefore, make sure your team is well prepared.